Snakes and Splinters [PUBLISHED]

2

"Have fun at training today," I turned and said to Walter.

He smiled at me and caressed my cheek, "Thanks, you too at Uni."

I closed the gap between us and gave him a gentle kiss.

"I'll see you in the evening," he said to me.

I nodded, already knowing each of our plans for the day. Walter kissed my forehead one last time before I got out of the car and joined Hayley at the entrance to the London School of Arts where she was waiting for me.

On arriving to our workshop, where we were the last in our group to show up, Hayley and I got started with our projects. I was working on making prints out of various materials that I would then use to make items of clothing and accessories. It was a meticulous project and took a lot of time, but I loved it. My supervisors had said that what I'd done so far was very good.

The course itself was three years long and during the first year, we were taught about many of the areas in the Textiles industry including weaving, printing, knitting and embroidery. There was the practical side of things where we would bring our designs to life, and then there was the theoretical side where we studied things like the social and cultural aspects to textile design. As if I even knew what that meant. I naturally preferred the practical side more because I could spend hours being creative and as for the theory part, I didn't much enjoy having to give presentations on my research in front of the group. I still managed it though, better than I would have in the past when I was a lot quieter.

"Hey Coral," Hayley nudged my elbow as we sat side by side at one of the tables, working on our drawings. "Is she new?"

I followed her gaze to a girl with long and dark curly hair. She was sitting on another large table, completely focused on painting. I didn't recognise her at all.

"I think so," I replied. "She's really pretty."

"Yeah," Hayley nodded in agreement. "I wonder why none of the guys have tried to chat her up."

I chuckled, "Maybe because barely any boys take this course?"

Hayley twisted her red lips to the side, "There are a few boys."

"Gay boys."

"Well...yeah," she grinned. "But still, if I was a straight guy, I'd be on her like white on rice."

"Thanks for that Hayley," I rolled my eyes. "She must be a transfer student if she's joined just after the Christmas holiday."

"True," Hayley nodded. "She looks lonely, do you want to go and talk to her?"

"I don't want to interrupt her," I shook my head.

That wasn't the only reason. Like most other pretty (soon to be popular) girls, the new girl could be a bit fake or bitchy and I would rather have avoided that. That being said, Hayley, as a pretty girl herself, wasn't like that at all. So I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility that the new girl was a genuinely nice person like Hayley was.

Time passed quickly and some of the teachers had come round to see how we'd gotten on with our project during the holiday. I'd had to hold back laughter when listening to Hayley stutter through her excuses as to why she hadn't completed her work for the break. She'd thought she'd been so badass earlier when declaring she'd only done one sketch. It had gotten so painful to watch in the end that I'd had to go and get some more watercolour pencils just so I wouldn't burst out laughing in front of the teacher.

Whilst gathering some more shades of red and orange, I overheard a couple of the guys in the workshop talking in low voices about the new girl. They didn't know her name either, but they certainly thought she was very attractive. I guessed there were more straight guys taking Textile Design than I'd thought, I smiled to myself.